Department for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Access (DELTA) [email protected] / 01224 263 048 www.rgu.ac.uk/access-rgu Facebook.com/accessrgu @RGU_DELTA Welcome to the latest ACCESS RGU newsletter! Summer is already a distant memory as the ACCESS RGU programmes and various access initiatives get underway! Firstly, a warm thankyou to Northfield Academy for asking us along to the Aberdeen City Council’s recent Children and Young People’s Services Awards. We were delighted to find out that The Northern Lights Project, the ACCESS RGU S1 and S2 pupil and parent engagement run in conjunction with the Academy, had been shortlisted for an award. The event was fantastic! So many worthy initiatives were showcased and the entertainment provided by the young people from across the City was outstanding. What a very clever and talented bunch! Congratulations to Northfield Academy‘s ecogroup for winning in their category and to our partners Aberdeen Guarantees who were also winners on the night. Northfield and Torry Academy pupils also played a key part in helping us host a successful visit from the Commission on Widening Access in September. Partners from North East Scotland College, Aberdeenshire Council and Northfield Academy, as well as Academics from across the University, shared their time and insight to help shape the Commission’s views on the key barriers to access and the value of partnership working to overcome them. Partner contributions were very well received with the Commission remarking that they found the visit extremely informative. From the glitz and glamour of award ceremonies and VIP visits to the excitement and dynamism of the Access To programmes! I am delighted to report that there has been a fantastic uptake of our expanded range of subject programme opportunities from senior phase pupils in both Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire partner schools. With 215 pupils on campus over three evenings a week, it has all the makings for a very busy term! Delivering effective interventions through the development of tailored support for existing and prospective students drives the work of the ACCESS RGU Team. As such, supporting care experienced young people (looked after children) is a key area of our work as a corporate parent. In this edition we highlight national care leaver week and our event to share understanding and support joint working in the region. Another key date in the diary is the ACCESS RGU UCAS conference for partner school pupils on Wednesday 4th November. Further information, including how to register pupil attendance, can be found on page 10. In this edition, we also profile the work of team member, Geraldine Lynch, who works across a number of ACCESS RGU projects, providing opportunities for young people from S1 to undergraduate study. Geraldine and our wider Team colleagues and partners continue to bring a wealth of skills and creativity to the table in developing impactful ACCESS RGU activities for young people. My sincere thanks go to the team for their continued hard work, good humour and success! Best wishes, Elaine Sinclair Wider Access and Outreach Team Leader, DELTA This semester eight Access To programmes are running simultaneously across the three RGU faculties. The programmes got off to a great start with three launch events taking place during August and September where new participants were welcomed on campus and had the opportunity to meet other pupils taking part in the programmes. The events provided participants with an introduction to the programme and university life and offered pupils an opportunity to become familiar with the campus during a tour of the facilities. All Access To participants become Associate Students of RGU. This allows them to access university facilities including IT labs, the library and RGU Sport. The pupils were particularly impressed by the size of the library facility and admired the vast collection of books held in various specialised fields. Participant numbers in the Access To programme have grown significantly this year with the launch of two new subject programmes and three new partner schools joining us from Aberdeenshire. The new partner schools, Fraserburgh, Mintlaw and Peterhead Academies, coupled with two new programmes, Access to Engineering and Access to Computing, has seen participant numbers rise from 130 to over 200 pupils. We have been particularly delighted to welcome 80 pupils from Aberdeenshire to the campus. Pupils have joined their peers from the Aberdeen city partner schools and early feedback indicates they have been very pleased with their decision to join the programme. Travelling down to the RGU campus after school, the Aberdeenshire pupils have been enthusiastic and engaged extremely well with the staff and students. We look forward to working with the 2015/16 Access To pupils and wish them all the best on their path to further or higher education! Having recently completed the Access to Law/Law & Management programme we met up with Rachael Boyes from Kincorth Academy as she embarks on a four year LLB Law degree programme at RGU. The Access to Law / Law and Management programme is aimed at pupils who are interested in finding out more about careers in the field of Law and Law and Management. Studying Law has been a goal Rachael has been working towards throughout her secondary education, so when she heard about the ‘Access To’ programme she jumped at the opportunity: “I first heard about the access programmes when Rhona came to my school to give a talk, and I thought it sounded like a great idea. She told us about all of the courses that were available and how they could give you a taster of what student life would be like, and what the courses would be like if you studied them...I wanted to get experience of what daily life at uni would be like, and see how the programmes would resemble the courses on offer. I’d attended a few Open Days but I wanted to get a feel of the real student environment that comes with studying at uni.” The programme, running again this semester, explores the question ‘What is Law?’ and each week focuses on a different aspect of the law from mooting, case study research, negotiating and mediating. A highlight for pupils is the chance to present a case in a courtroom environment using RGU’s mock courtroom as Rachael explains: “I loved getting to go into the mock court and actually playing things out; that was good fun.” The Access to Law/Law & Management programme is co-delivered by Ledingham Chalmers with input from their recently appointed Trainees through to their most experienced Partners. Rachael found the opportunity to meet practising Solicitors extremely beneficial: “Associates from Ledingham Chalmers helped throughout the programme; I got on really well with them. It was great to see someone that’s actually gone through university and been in the profession.” Continued... Rachael is thrilled to have met the conditions for entry to the LLB and having achieved her immediate goal she is now setting her sights on the future: “When I graduate I’d like to return and do my Masters, then after a 2 year traineeship become a Solicitor. I’ve done a 5 week placement at Petrofac, which was between the Law and Finance Departments. It was great experience which showed me what a real working day consisted of.” Finally we asked Rachael to share some words of advice for other pupils considering giving the ‘Access To’ programmes a go. She said: “Go for it; it’s a great experience and you meet a lot of new people. It gives you a good taste of what it’s like to study at university and whether it’s for you. I wasn’t too sure about it at first because I wouldn’t know anyone, but everyone was lovely.” As she begins her studies at RGU Rachael will be joined by her peers from the Access to Law/Law and Management programme. Former Hazlehead Academy pupils Stuart Charleton, Thomas Booth, Hannah Willox, Olivia Bonner and Emma Duncan will all start degree courses in the Law Department this semester. We wish them every success! National Care Leavers’ Week is about highlighting the needs of care leavers/looked after children, and encouraging the agencies with corporate parenting responsibilities to work in a coordinated and effective way to provide individuals with tailored support and guidance as required. The week is also about raising public awareness of an invisible minority who face a particular set of challenges as they enter adult life, particularly in terms of attainment and accessing further and higher education. The theme of this year’s National Care Leavers’ Week, between 22-30 October, is ‘keep dreaming’. Throughout the week we will be highlighting and promoting the support that RGU provides for individuals from looked after backgrounds and for our care experienced students. Each day we will be tweeting links to specific webpages to give details of the support that we offer, providing information and guidance for all staff and students. You can follow our tweets (@RGU_DELTA) and take the opportunity to find out more about this group of students and young people and find out ways in which you might also be able to support or get involved in the great work that is taking place in the University. Looking ahead, the Access RGU team, along with the Student Associations of RGU, North-East Scotland College and the University of Aberdeen will host a joint event in late November The evening will provide the opportunity for care experienced students to share their stories as well as providing the opportunity for staff from various local agencies to meet and build stronger links.